Loving a Challenge. . .

Have you heard about Crunch a Color's 52 New Foods Challenge? Try a new food each week for a year, how simple is that? And there's even an inspiring cookbook you can use! I was lucky enough to receive a copy late last week and couldn't wait to get started! I flipped through the book and one of the recipes that grabbed me was the Whole Wheat Flour pizza base. I didn't have all the ingredients so I opted to try out a variation of something we are familiar with. 52 New Foods doesn't just celebrate new foods, but also new cooking techniques and variations on the old. So Pumpkin, Spinach & Ricotta Pizza was born!

Start by roasting some pumpkin/squash. Coat lightly with oil and bake at 180-200 degrees until soft and tender. Depending on the size of your pieces anything from 30 to 90 minutes. Yes roast with the skin on! It is delicious and gives the cooked pumpkin a fantastic texture!

One of the best things about this pizza is that you get to have roast veggies for dinner the night before! As you can see I like a touch (or more) colour on my roast pumpkin.

Don't forget to bake extra pumpkin and once cooled store in a covered container in the fridge. You can also toss in whatever other leftover vegetables you have. These peas were a perfect addition.

Spread your chosen pizza base (this is a store bought tortilla, the girls had corn tortillas, but I am looking forward to making this on the whole wheat flour base from the 52 New Foods book) with a little sauce and *lots* of pumpkin.

I simply scooped the flesh from the skin and smushed it onto the base, swirling and spreading. This is a great step to get the children involved in!

Blanch some baby spinach leaves in boiling water for a minute or two until bright green and tender. Drain and squeeze away excess moisture. You can leave whole, but I like to roughly chop.

I always have some zip lock bags of capsicum/bell peppers in my freezer. Whenever I see them on special I grab a few and if they are not used straight away they get sliced or diced and thrown straight in. They are perfect for adding a little colour (and extra vegetables!) to pizzas, pasta sauces, soups, you name it!

One you have all your ingredients prepped you can call in the creative genius that is your offspring to help layer up your pizzas. Start adding your ingredients form the outside of the pizza and drag them inwards rather than dumping them all in the middle and spreading them outwards. See, my time at Pizza Hut did prove educational!

Spinkle a little grated mozzarella on your pumpkin and tomato paste base, then add a little sliced ham, pepperoni, diced capsicum/bell pepper, baby spinach, some of those peas for last night's dinner gently smashed and a few dollops of ricotta.

Lastly add another layer of grated mozzarella (or any other hard grated cheese) and a swirl of sauce if desired. 

Once Miss M saw my BBQ sauce swirl she wanted a tomato sauce swirl too.

Bake at 180-200 degrees until the cheese has melted and started to turn golden. The mini sized ones took about 15 minutes.

And the mummy sized one took about 25, but I do refer a little more colour :-)

How gorgeous is that!

A perfect way to try something new is to mix it with something old - who doesn't love pizza?

And these bases are so thin that you can roll each slice into a perfect toddler or baby sized morsel. Not that they lasted long enough to photograph!

And what do you do with the pumpkin seeds? Well roast them of course! There's a simple recipe in the 52 New Foods book that's going on my make list (since my first attempt was less than successful).

Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches & 52 New Foods Challenge who generously provided me with a copy of their book. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Simple Panda Lunch

I tried packing Miss M's drink bottle underneath her sandwich in our Easy Lunchboxes. Using some baking paper to transfer and protect it. Can't say I'm satisfied with the result so back to keeping her drink bottle separate.

This was the first time we'd tried Hello Panda biscuits and while I quite liked them Miss M wasn't fussed. I think the filling was a little too sweet for her. Oh well, all the more for me :-)

Her jam sandwich cut into a panda shape with our CuteZCute cutter and decorated with Vegemite.

Plain vanilla yoghurt in the purple container.

Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Flower Cutter Pocket Sandwich Fail

Flashback Friday this week is brought to you by my failed attempt at cookie cutter pocket sandwich making. If you want to see how it's done properly, check out this tutorial from Bento Monsters.

Start with some cutters of the same design but varying sizes.

You can mark your bread if you choose

But I've since discovered this is an unnecessary step.

Especially since you add the filling after cutting out the shape.

And if you overfill, like this. . .

. . . you will end up with a pocket sandwich fail. Still tasty though :-)


Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Mexican Stack

Don't you just love a simple concept? I first tried this at a local cafe a few years ago and quickly added it to our favourites list.

The trick is to find some tortillas that fit perfectly in your spring form tin. You can always make them to fit, but I'm not that good ;-P

I add a little flavour to our basic mince recipe to turn it 'Mexican'. Simply brown some onion, garlic and beef mince. Add a tin of tomato soup, a tin of four bean mic and a tin of corn then simmer until well reduced. I no longer add Mexican chilli powder at this stage, preferring to add it at the table. That way we can make it plain for the girls and spicy for us.

Lightly oil your spring form dish and line with your first tortilla.

Then add some of your Mexican mince mix. . .

. . . and finally some store bought salsa. Again feel free to make your own :-)

Keep layering your 'lasagne' until you reach the top of your tin. We normally get three to four layers in ours.

Generously sprinkle some grated cheese (mozzarella works wonderfully), and bake in a 180 degree oven until golden, about half an hour.

Ta da!

Gently unfold your creation

If you load the base of your spring form tin in upside down (so the hollow is on the bottom) it will make it easier to slide this baby off the tin and onto a chopping board.

Serve with sour cream and a simple salad.

And pack some leftovers for lunch!

Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.

Slinky Malinki Catflaps Lunch

Do you have any Slinky Malinki fans in your house? Miss M has enjoyed Hairy Maclary since she first read it three (really?!?!?) years ago. Recently Honey has been introduced to the wonderful world of Lynley Dodd through Slinky Malinki and Miss M has loved tagging along for the ride.

"They sat in the moonlight's silvery glow,
hobnobbing happily, ten in a row."

Some frozen yoghurt for our moon and some frozen blueberries for our night sky.

A mandarin with a cute leaf pick.

Some nori cutting and FooDoodler cheese art sit on top of a jam sandwich.

All in our EasyLunchBoxes.


Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product. This post may contain affiliate links.